New Year’s Day, for those of us who lived our careers in the academic world, has always been Labor Day. From kindergarten through college and into our jobs in public schools, we measured our life’s journey from September through June. Even in our retirement, July and August retain their sense of lull and respite.
Nonetheless, the Retired Teachers Chapter found some things to focus on this summer.
Those of us who have spent any time in Florida know that our teachers union colleagues there have had a rough time. On May 9, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an anti-union bill into law that requires most public sector unions to enroll 60% of their current and new members each year to maintain their status as unions. The new law also bars payroll deduction of dues; these unions have to set up their own mechanism to collect dues from their members.
Do you remember the year in the late 1970s when post-strike Taylor Law penalties forced the UFT to collect dues manually? More than 90% of New York City public school educators paid their dues that year, but then again, we are the UFT.
UFT retirees have been helping out the beleaguered Florida unions. UFT retirees on Florida’s west coast helped the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association reach that 60% threshold of union enrollment. This summer, the huge AFT local in Miami-Dade faced the same task, and UFT members, including volunteers from New York, chipped in.
Like the myth of Sisyphus, union activists push the rock up the hill, and when it tumbles back down again, we push it back up.
The United Farm Workers Union also recently asked the UFT for help organizing migrant farmworkers. We have a history of helping this union going back to when one of our founders, George Altomare, worked with UFW leaders Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta in the 1960s to create their union in California. George reminisced about the time he spent in jail with them after a union protest.
Now the UFW’s focus is on New York State, where vulnerable migrant workers toil from farm to farm to bring food to our tables. These farmworkers face subtle or overt threats from their employers when they express an interest in joining the UFW, which makes organizing extremely difficult. But the union is making progress, and it has our support.
More activism lies ahead for UFT retirees.
The New York City Labor Parade on Sept. 9 gives us a chance to recharge our union batteries as we march or ride on the UFT’s retiree bus.
The effects of climate change have become so apparent this year that attitudes and policies are beginning to change. Over the summer, a group of municipal union retirees, along with retirees from across the nation, called for creating new clean-energy jobs and making a faster transition away from fossil fuels to cleaner power sources.
UFT retirees will also be participating in a climate march on Sept. 17 at the United Nations Plaza, when President Biden, along with other world leaders, is in town to address the General Assembly session.
Not a bad record of summer activities as we head into our “new year.”